Here goes nothing!

I grew up in a small village town, on a crappy little farm in the arse-end of nowhere, and have since moved to the big city (near enough!) and have never looked back.

Since I was a kid I was always aware of the fitness industry, but not in the same way that I know it now. Both my parents have always been overweight, my Mother has especially struggled with her weight and still does to this day. I have vivid memories of my Mother and her friends doing endless hours of Mr Motivator on VHS and taking part in all kinds of fad diets in an attempt to lose weight, only to just end up where they started. This yo-yo dieting is so bad for your body, and anyone I see doing stupid things like ‘juice cleansing’ or the ‘milk diet’ just give me a headache.

As a child I was an incredibly fussy eater and spent a lot of my time underweight, which continued into my teens. I spent a lot of time struggling with depression and anxiety before I even knew what they were – and other than self-harm – I used food as a way to control it. I often went without food for fear of getting big, but it also gave me some control; there was a huge period in my life where I just lived off coke and cigarettes.

For a long time I thought being fit just meant being thin. It wasn’t until I was in High School that I learned that it came in all kinds of ways; runners, lifters, rowers, sprinters, Olympic etc. I was never confident enough to go and try the gym however, so ended up never bothering.

When I moved to University I ended up gaining a stone and a half in 9 months, just through binge-drinking and eating absolute crap. I’ve never been so uncomfortable in my own body, and I felt like I’d lost control of it. There was a long period of my life where I stopped self-harming, and used food as a coping mechanism instead. If I was stressed or anxious I would restrict food and go some days eating only one meal, or if I was feeling low would go on binges and just eat what I wanted to drown my emotions.

Looking back at pictures of myself I was horrified, I couldn’t believe what had happened to my body after all this time, and I realised how awful I had been to it. So during that summer I started running, counting my calories and eating right; I was soon back to where I started.

I did get a little obsessive with cardio, completing the Insanity Workout a few times, running 6 times a week. When a new gym opened in my local area, I was amazed by the guys coming in there who were not only doing cardio, but were also lifting – I finally had the equipment available for me to try, but I was still too scared! It wasn’t until I bit the bullet and booked in a training session with a PT there that I fell in love with it.

It was like something inside me had finally clicked and I fell in love with power-lifting, and have never stopped. I finally found something I enjoyed, so much so that I get up at 4am to get my training in before work!

Doing my Personal Training qualification was one of the best things I’ve ever done, and I’ve used my knowledge to not only improve my lifestyle and health, but have also been using it to help others. Since a week ago, I’m now beginning to trial prep for a Bikini Competition, that way when I do it for real next year I know exactly how my body will react to both nutrition and training changes.

I’m currently taking on new clients, no matter what fitness level you’re at, so I can help you love fitness too.